1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to outdoor cooking devices, and more particularly to outdoor cooking grills with a rotating fire element for the even cooking of grilled food using a transversally mounted standard rotisserie motor drive. The present invention allows for uniform cooking of grilled food without constant monitoring.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Cooking by means of a grill has been and continues to be a popular method of preparing food, especially in summer months when the weather is conducive to outdoor activities. In the typical outdoor grill, the cook places food on a fixed grill surface, and provides a source of heat, which is typically fire. In the standard grill, whether it is charcoal fueled or gas fueled, the source of heat is fixed, that is, no provision is made for the movement of the heat source. This potentially causes uneven cooking of the food to be prepared, unless the cook is vigilant in monitoring the grill and moving the food around the grill frequently to provide uniform cooking of the food. This method of cooking requires both skill and attention and obligates the cook to remain with the food throughout the grilling process.
These problems are due to several factors. First, the fuel used may be a solid combustible material, such as wood chips or charcoal briquettes, a combustible gas, such as propane, electric, or a combination of the above. While grills employing solid fuel are generally less expensive than gas or electric grills, unique problems arise from their use. For instance, the solid fuel may not combust evenly, so that some areas of the grill receive relatively hot areas sometimes known as hot spots, while other areas are relatively cooler.
A second problem common to all known grills is the phenomenon of xe2x80x9cflare up.xe2x80x9d This occurs when fats and oils (which are, after all, largely composed of hydrocarbons) liquefy upon heating and are deposited on the heat source, where these fats and oils ignite. Upon ignition of these fats and oils, an area of increased combustion occurs, potentially charring the food disposed above on the grill. In the event of xe2x80x9cflare up,xe2x80x9d the cook must either partially extinguish the increased flames, or quickly move the food to a new area of the grill that is not currently flaring up. However, since more fats and oils usually drip into the new area, xe2x80x9cflare upxe2x80x9d will occur again, so that the cook must expend considerable energy in responding to the xe2x80x9cflare upxe2x80x9d to avoid burned food.
Several attempts to ameliorate these problems have been proposed. These solutions fall broadly into three groups: Providing a movable grill surface to automatically move the food around the fire source; providing a modified intake of air and fuel mixture for altering the rate at which the fuel burns; and providing a mechanism for raising and lowering the fuel source to compensate for varying rates of fuel consumption through its combustion.
Methods and apparatuses for turning the grill surface and thereby rotating the food in relation to the heat source are known, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,787,873 issued on Aug. 4, 1998 to Whitehouse; U.S. Pat. No. 3,033,190 issued on May 8, 1962 to Atkinson; U.S. Pat. No. 2,819,667 issued on Jan. 14, 1958 to Victor; and French Patent No. 2,444,438 issued on Dec. 21, 1978 to Tier. While these grills aid in the uniformity of cooking by compensating for hot spots, they do not address the problems of xe2x80x9cflare upxe2x80x9d or efficient fuel combustion.
Other methods utilize a modified fuel or fuel mixture to ameliorate the phenomenon of uneven combustion of solid fuel. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,497, issued on May 19, 1998 to Combs et al. discloses a cooking grill with an air intake, a flue gas outlet, and a dampening mechanism for modifying the air and fuel ratios to achieve a desired cooking temperature at the grill surface. Several patents, including U.S. Pat. No. 773,744 issued on Nov. 1, 1904 to Hough; U.S. Pat. No. 391,274 issued on Oct. 16, 1888 to Ridgway; and U.S. Pat. No. 351,896 issued on Nov. 2, 1886 to Bowman disclose a furnace with a rotatable grate upon which fuel is disposed. In these examples, the grate is rotated so that the fuel is brought into contact with a fixed portion of the furnace, either a wall or a separate set of projections to mechanically agitate the fuel, and dispose of ashes and spent cinders of coal known as xe2x80x9cclinkersxe2x80x9d by mechanically agitating these xe2x80x9cclinkersxe2x80x9d through the grate, and thereby increasing the proportion of unspent fuel available for combustion. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,620, issued on May 25, 1976 to Stephen, Jr., electric coils provide the source of heat to produce a more uniform heat source. Additionally, it is well known to use a fuel mixture of propane, natural gasses (predominantly alkanes or alkenes) and air as a combustible nature for providing a source of heat. These solutions do not effectively control xe2x80x9cflare up,xe2x80x9d nor do they adequately provide solutions to uneven heating.
Finally, other solutions provide for raising and lowering either the grill surface or the heat source to help compensate for xe2x80x9cflare upxe2x80x9d and uneven combustion. In these solutions, the cook modifies the vertical distance of the heat source in relation to the grill in response to variations in combustion, such that when the heat source is producing relatively more energy, the heat source is moved away relative to the grill, and when the heat source is producing relatively less energy, the heat source is moved in closer relation to the grill. Examples of these solutions include U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,635 issued on Jun. 2, 1998 to Peterson, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,821 issued on Mar. 31, 1992 to Ceravolo.
None of the above examples adequately and simultaneously solves the problems identified with uneven combustion, xe2x80x9cflare upxe2x80x9d and constant monitoring. Therefore, there is a need for a cooking apparatus that simultaneously solves all of the above problems,
According to the present invention, there is disclosed a rotating firebox cooking apparatus. The rotating firebox may be constructed with a grilling apparatus, or it may be easily retrofitted to an existing conventional grilling apparatus. The firebox of the present invention is located within a chamber having a grill at or near the top of the chamber, and the firebox rotates the heat source within the chamber and underneath the grill, creating radiant and convection energy.